Swiss tragedy: Families demand murder charges against bar owners over fatal fire

Lawyers representing victims of the deadly New Year's Eve fire at the Swiss ski resort of Crans-Montana have formally requested that prosecutors upgrade the charges against the bar's owners, after text messages emerged discussing the danger of the blaze.

The fire at Le Constellation bar killed 41 people and injured 115. Investigators believe it started in the basement when sparklers attached to champagne bottles were held too close to sound-insulating foam on the ceiling.

Bar owners Jessica and Jacques Moretti face charges including manslaughter by negligence and arson by negligence. Another 12 suspects, including several current and former local officials, are under criminal investigation.

On Wednesday, lawyers for some of the victims—mostly teenagers—told Swiss public broadcaster RTS they had asked investigators to upgrade the charges against the Morettis from manslaughter by negligence to murder with possible intent.

The public prosecutor for Valais canton confirmed to Agence France-Presse that two lawyers, Sophie Haenni and Ludovic Tirelli, had formally submitted the request after the couple's latest cross-examination by investigating magistrates in Sion last Friday.

At that hearing, the lawyers said, the couple were confronted with messages from a WhatsApp group in which Jessica Moretti warned staff to be careful with sparklers, stating that if the carpet, sofas or ceiling foam caught fire, the bar would burn.

Haenni told AFP she had given prosecutors the messages, which dated from 2019, arguing they demonstrated that the Morettis—who have denied all wrongdoing—were "perfectly aware of the highly flammable nature of the acoustic foam."

Haenni, who represents the family of an employee who died, said: "The Morettis knew the bar could catch fire. They were aware of the risk and they accepted it. The charge should no longer be negligence but murder with possible intent."

The couple's lawyers dismissed the allegations as "nonsense." "How can anyone argue that the Morettis foresaw a mortal risk? Worse still, that they would have accepted it?" Yaël Hayat and Nicola Meier told RTS. "Jessica was at the scene the night of the tragedy. Her presence is the best alibi for this absurd accusation."

Under Swiss criminal law, "possible intent" exists when a perpetrator "considers the commission of the offence to be possible but acts anyway, because he accepts this result if it occurs … even if he judges it to be undesirable and does not wish it."

The Morettis' lawyers also confirmed that Jessica was notified at the June 5 hearing that she faces a new charge of forgery relating to the invoice for the sound-insulating foam panels. They said the document, from 2015, had "simply been recorded in the accounts under a different name" and was not relevant to the case.